Marpei: Oracle of Sleep
''Marpei: Oracle of Sleep is an action-adventure game developed by Nightingale Labs, funded by Nintendo and published by Nintendo for the Wii U in June 2015. It is an action-adventure game revolving around a girl who has the ability to enter the Dream World via sleeping, and with that power, she must learn the truths of her own past after being raised in an orphanage. It houses 15 GB of size due to its world within the stages and most of its dialogue is voiced. It would get a November 2017 Switch re-master nicknamed the ''"Dreamer Edition" ''with improved graphics and additional challenges. The boxart of this game is a anime CG of Marpei walking through gardens of flowers, with one half being the Dream World and the other half being the Nightmare World, and the Wii U icon is Marpei's portrait. Plot A little child by the name of Marpei is adopted after a plague wipes out a town somewhere in Renaissance Europe. However, during her stay at the orphanage, she develops a habit of sleeping a lot more often than other children. One day, she eventually ends up at the Dream World, an unknown place where only few dreamers can even reach. She eventually explores the Dream World only to find a mysterious being nicknamed the Sandman. The Sandman claims that he has chosen her due to her habits of falling asleep a lot, and he then gives her abilities, but Marpei still has to master them out herself before using them for good. Meanwhile, another mysterious entity had followed Marpei to the Dream World, only to demand the Sandman for knowledge about nightmares... 20 years later after leaving the orphanage. Marpei goes on her own to find out the powers' origins and what family she came from by learning how to unlock all of her abilities of the Oracle of Sleep. One day, Marpei comes across a new mysterious villain nicknamed Jasper and the Nightmares, who then eventually realized that both of them came to the Dream World the same method, but Jasper demanded the Sandman for great power, while Marpei wanted power to be able to feel better and dream of better days from what happened from the plague that cost her everything else. After a duel, Jasper runs off, exclaiming that he'll be back. Reading old newspapers, she discovers that Jasper also came from the same orphanage and the same discovery as herself, thus making them very similar. Marpei finds Jasper somewhere within the city, and both Jasper and Marpei fight, only for Jasper to escape to the Nightmare World. Marpei follows Jasper into the Nightmare World. Following Jasper to the Nightmare World, Jasper is immune to the effects of the Nightmare World while Marpei is struggling likely due to her preference to dreams. Jasper hurts Marpei, exclaiming that he's going with the power of nightmares to get revenge on those that murdered his family, Marpei tries to fight back, exclaiming about the plague that killed his family. However, the Sandman interrupts the battle with his 6 Guardians, but Jasper corrupts them to fight for himself, knocking the Sandman away. Marpei exclaims that Jasper will pay for all this, while Jasper feels no pity in her at all. Marpei returns back home in the city that she lives in, and then finds out more about the monsters, Jasper, and the Sandman. Jasper is really part of the same village as Marpei that believed in dreams and the idea of a Dream World, while the Sandman was an ascended being of the village who created both the Dream World and the Nightmare World. Upon gaining knowledge, she learns how to control her dreams via her own emotions, for sadness of ice, neutrality of earth, and anger of fire. After getting stronger after several trainings, Marpei eventually fights off the Guardians, but gets overwhelmed, but realizes that the Sandman is still here for her, and then Marpei, feeling overwhelmed, decides to transform into her ultimate self; the Celestial Dreamer to take down all of the corrupted Guardians. Jasper, having running out of his own magic in the Dream World, dies via materializing to dream energy for Marpei. Marpei, having completed all of her main tasks, decides to accept that even if not everything has a happy payoff, its the success that matters, with her looking over the land from a hill. Gameplay Startup Upon booting up the game, the Wii U bootup screen shows a CG artwork of Marpei crossing from the mortal world into the dream world, with the music from the Dream World ambience being used. Upon getting to the main menu, the main menu screen shows Marpei flying through a dimensional portal, representing the transition between worlds. Pressing ZL+ZR as indicated begins with a dreamcatcher jingle, and then starts the game with the option to start from three file slots. File slots are nicknamed "dreams" to tie in to its theme. Overall The gameplay is loosely based on Legend of Zelda, except that unlike other action-adventure games, Marpei refuses to use any physical weapons (swords, bows) to take down her enemies, instead she must use her own magic which must be charged by feeding upon enemies via using her absorption magic to feed upon the dream energy from the enemies, and then using that energy to finish them off. Enemies consist of undead monsters and various types of possessions. Marpei has five types of magic; Dream, Nature, Nightmare, Emotional, and Charm. Dream Magic must be used to smite Nightmare World enemies, Nightmare Magic must be used to smite Dream World enemies, Nature Magic has various purposes such as building nature bridges which are guided via walking a path, Charm Magic lets Marpei take control of a monster, usually to fight in certain strategies or for puzzles. All magic comes with a cost and must be regenerated by absorbing mana from enemies via the Y button. Emotional Magic has four spells based on fire, ice, thunder, and water, which play an important role on the enemies you're fighting. Shield enemies require thunder, speed enemies require ice, and strength enemies require fire. Some spells have "charged" capabilities which augments what they do at the cost of increased mana cost. The HUD is represented with Marpei's health and mana bar to the top-left, a compass on the top, a quest guide on the top-right, and the four D-Pad weapons on the bottom left. Marpei's appearance is that she has long lavender-to-magenta hair that goes down to her waist. She wears a dark purple sleeved dress with a dreamcatcher necklace and wears a skirt that goes down only slightly above her knees. She goes barefoot the entire game, and because of this, her running sounds don't make much noise with the exception of running on water. Throughout the game, Marpei can find various collectibles that can be obtained to upgrade her stats. There are 2 collectibles; Heart Dreamcatchers and Aether Crystals. Heart Dreamcatchers increase Marpei's max health to 400 (starts at 100 with a half-sized health bar and ends at 400 with 2 full-sized health bars) and Aether Crystals increases Marpei's max mana to 250 (each Aether Crystal gives 25 more max mana). Marpei can gain currency which is represented by dream orbs which are gained by defeating enemies. Marpei can use these orbs to upgrade her magic to do more damage and further their capabilities. Note that magic that has anything to do with movement/puzzling (bridges, for example) cannot be upgraded. Another type of pickup called a healing orb (pink) can heal Marpei as well. The game runs at a 1080p with a 30fps cap and makes use of the Nintendo cartoon artstyle. It also pushes the limits of the Wii U in terms of graphic power by its immersive world, especially in the views where you can see 3D renders of the cityscapes. The game supports playing either via the GamePad or the Wii U Pro Controller. World While the game is not entirely open world as it follows a stage structure instead of a free-roam open world, the chapters do have some free-roam parts in it, such as exploring through cities of Renaissance Europe, the wilderness such as meadows, beaches, and forests, and can even explore through Dream World via sleeping in beds and the Nightmare World via unholy carpets. In Renaissance Europe, there are the following states; Ireland, France, Britain, Italy, Spain, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, and Hungary. The Dream World is represented by a classical-themed palace with a lavender-blue sea of clouds as the pits and a starlit night sky as the background.. The Nightmare World is represented by a medieval-themed castle with a black sea of clouds and a lunar-eclipse in the sky with no stars as the background. Puzzles Throughout the game, there are various mechanics that will challenge Marpei in many ways, such as what item to use, or how to take down the enemies. There are various types of terrain and landforms that change how Marpei is about to fight her enemies. Via using beds across the world, Marpei can enter the Dream World and solve various puzzles to find various items, clues, or solve important missions. Some optional puzzles will require specific abilities and usually cannot be solved until later. For example, one optional sidequest involves clearing away a earth blockade, which requires the Aquawave spell. There are various items and tools that are used across the puzzles; *Elemental Shields: Must be used to survive elemental hazards like frostbite and fire. *Hovering Cloud: Hovers above floor-based obstacles. *No-Tool Gates: All tools will be removed upon crossing. *One-Way Gate: You cannot go back upon going through this gate. *Arrow Change Switch: Changes the direction of the One-Way Gates to clockwise or counter-clockwise. *Portal: Takes Marpei (and also enemies to some extent) to the other portal it was linked to. There are blue, green, and red portals. Magic Spells Each magic type has four magic spells. Some magic spells will do damage to enemies, some are used for defensive purposes, while others do varying tasks like solving puzzles. All of these spells are gained as part of the story. Some magic spells have melee capabilities, though not all of them. They are indicated via icons. As an anti-frustration feature, some areas will have mana lamps which automaticallly charge up Marpei's mana to maximum incase they don't have enough mana to pass certain puzzles. Dream These spells are unlocked after the prologue. Nature These spells are unlocked partway through Chapter 1. Charm These spells are unlocked on Chapter 5. Nightmare These spells are unlocked on Chapter 8. Emotional These spells are unlocked on Chapter 13. Combat As Marpei refuses to use any physical form of weapons or combat, she must use her magic to take down enemies. She will need to use various tactics to take down her enemies, such as the landforms, how the enemies are alerted, and how to take them down. Marpei has varying types of magic spells, such as a defensive spell which reflects enemy attacks, two magic missile spells which are super effective vice versa to Dream and Nightmare enemies, and the ability to take control of enemies and lure them to various areas, either to traps or switches. When it comes to other objectives like stealth, Marpei can also use Dream Sense to determine where are the enemies, what objects or interactions could alert enemies, and detect switches. Near the end of the game, Marpei unlocks her last form of combat, the Celestial Dreamer, simply activated by the L3+R3 button after charging up after 150 seconds. The form lasts for only 30 seconds and represents her transformation into the Goddess of Dreams, also known as the Celestial Dreamer. In this form, Marpei instead of using her four types of magic, instead uses her wings to fly above the enemies and cast magical homing missiles towards her enemies. In between transformations, Marpei must kill at least 15 enemies before transforming so Marpei can't just transform-camp before each battle. This ability is unlocked on Chapter 17. Difficulties As this game incorporates a mix of action and adventuring aspects into the game, there's also a difficulty aspect into them. Chapters Unlike other action-adventure games like this, chapters aren't in a "linear stage structure", they are instead open world chapters which throughout the game, changes in terms of NPCs, the Dream World, and what Marpei can do now to continue the game. Chapters are 20-30 minutes long as they are non-linear and each chapter has a boss in the end. Each chapter begins the title written in white text, a dark lavender-blue insignia in the background, and a word with a definition below its title all on a black background. Earlier chapters can be replayed via the menu, or via looking at Marpei's journal at the beginning of each chapter in the Start menu, with each chapter being represented in pages. Introduction The introduction cutscene first shows Marpei being taken in from a rescue team in a village that was wiped out by a plague, while alongside that the opening credits roll beginning with the Nintendo logo and the Nightingale Labs logo. Marpei is then settled in an orphanage, and while in that orphanage, she dreams of living in a better place with her own imaginations... Chapter 0: Dreamer ''A person who dreams, or is currently in the state of dreaming. The insignia represented is a thought bubble. Marpei is then settled into an orphanage with other children at her age. However, she then develops a habit of sleeping a lot more often and becomes left out all the time. Marpei feels like her dreams are where she wants to be instead of the real world she's in. One day, she wakes up, not in her same bed, but rather in an alternative world where it represents a Greek-themed palace with a sea of clouds and a night sky full of stars. Marpei becomes confused but sees an entrance, Marpei follows the entrance and meets the Sandman, a wiseman who had chosen her due to her sleeping capabilities, and he'd like to see her explore the alternate realities that he created that one could only enter via sleeping. He also states that there are two worlds; the Dream World where they are both in, and the Nightmare World. The Sandman blesses her the powers of the Oracle of Sleep, but warns that these powers must be learnt before using them for good. As soon as Marpei leaves the Dream World, she witnesses a boy run up to the Sandman and demand him powers, but she doesn't know who he is at all... Marpei wakes up, and realizes that the dream wasn't actually a dream, it was an entry to the Dream World, but she decides to keep the information secret because no one would believe her. Chapter 1: Entry The right or privilege of entering a place; an entrance's location. The insignia represented is a gateway. The chapter fast-forwards 20 years later to Marpei's adulthood, with her long hair dyed lavender-blue to magenta. As noted, she chose to leave behind her footwear (violet-flowered flip-flops) at her home in Renaissance Europe, meaning she goes barefoot as part of nature. The gameplay starts out at the stone footpath on the mountain meadows of Renaissance Europe, as Marpei is practicing her Nature training to be able to learn more of the Oracle's abilities. She talks to herself how she hasn't explored a lot of the Dream World and the Nightmare World, and the fact that she witnessed a boy in the same place she was 20 years ago, but now she decides to master out what the Sandman told her 20 years ago back in the orphanage. Marpei explores through the meadows and all of a sudden, Nightmare monsters invade, but Marpei fights them off using her Dream Magic. Marpei talks about that these enemies are new and she haven't came across them in 20 years. She comes across a run-down house with a bed, and then sleeps on it. Marpei enters the Dream World again, where she solves puzzles, and comes across more Nightmare Monsters as well. She comes across a sacred tree, where after destroying the Nightmare Monster that corrupted it, blesses her with Nature Magic. Marpei then gets across the chasm using a bridge, and then leaves the Dream World afterword. Marpei returns home, having successfully learnt Nature Magic and the first of many abilities of the Oracle of Sleep. Chapter 2: Ego The sense of self-esteem; a thinking subject. The insignia represented is a symbol of meditation. The next day, Marpei wakes up in her home located a mile away from the cities of Austria. She then decides to write down notes about what the monsters are, where they are coming from, and what she can do to fight against those monsters. Marpei then visits the city of Austria to talk about the monsters and what they know about it. Visiting a tavern, she learns from other people that they've witnesseed what could be another man having possession of the monsters and being able to harness various powers that they've never seen before. Taking this in mind, she believes that this could be the person that followed her from the Dream World 20 years ago, so Marpei takes notes of the incident and moves on. Marpei finds herself in the Dream World via sleeping in a bed where a reported victim of the monsters died in. Here, she comes across footsteps which likely link to a human being that also was in the Dream World, Marpei further and further suspects that there could be a victim held hostage. Marpei then fights off the monsters, frees the hostages, and then heads back to the mortal world but not before seeing another mysterious human being leaving the Dream World. Chapter 3: Charm Delight, pleasing others; representing prettiness. The insignia represented is a heart. Marpei becomes questioned several times on how she was able to sleep and then rescue the trapped people on the other side. Marpei claims that she was the girl that the Sandman blessed her 20 years ago, and that she had a habit of sleeping a lot more often than other people. Marpei then comes across a trace of black salt on the way back to her home. Following the trace of salt, she finds herself in a black carpet where she eventually falls asleep and enters the Nightmare World for the first time. From her perspective, it resembles to a be darker parallel version of the Dream World. A mysterious man then shows up and introduces himself as Jasper, the other soul that was blessed with the Sandman's power with a motivation of fusing both the Dream World and the Nightmare World to the utopia he wants to make. Marpei calls him out for being insane, but Jasper runs off. Chasing after Jasper, she comes across another Nightmare spirit that is capable of mind-controlling her. After defeating it, she unlocks Charm Magic and then leaves the Nightmare World. Marpei finally knows the identity of what's going on and decides to keep on finding him. Chapter 4: Upheaval An agitation of disorder; a radical change. The insignia represented is a gear. Marpei is called upon by the people of Austria to head down to another European country, Germany, to investigate a source of the Nightmare spirits. Marpei fights off the spirits, and then gains information that Jasper is bound for Berlin, the capital of Germany. Marpei gets to Berlin's town hall just in time Jasper lays siege into the area. Marpei fights her way to the top and Jasper gets away. Marpei chases down Jasper through the Nightmare World, and manages to reverse the damage done by Jasper after battling the Nightmare spirits that Jasper summoned. Jasper proclaims that he and Marpei are related before leaving. Chapter 5: Remorse Distress, the fear of past wrongs; self-reproach. The insignia represented an emotion of fear. Chapter 6: Mire Being in a troublesome situation; usually with no way out. The insignia represented is a symbol of being trapped. Chapter 7: Blossom Evidence which had became the main focus; an shining appearance. The insignia represented is a blossoming flower in a spotlight. Chapter 8: Omen An occurrence which is believed to portend a future event; a warning. The insignia represented is an hourglass. Chapter 9: Lucid Luminous, as in brimmed with light; translucent. The insignia represented is a sun. Chapter 10: Insomnia Unability to gain any sleep; sleeplessness. The insignia represented is a moon. Chapter 11: Reality The real conclusion to a situation; a real notation. The insignia represented is an eye. Chapter 12: Abyss A bottomless chasm; moral depths. The insignia represented is a pitfall. Chapter 13: Passion Emotions that are distinguished; preferable devotions. The insignia represented is a tear drop, anger, and lightning. Chapter 14: Rejuvenation The healing of all wounds and illnesses; a complete restoration. The insignia represented is a cross. Chapter 15: Advocate Pleading a cause or a proposal of another entity; supporting an act of other's. The insignia represented are two dreamcatchers. Chapter 16: Sin Actions that are taken to be reprehensible; a wrongful deed. The insignia represented is a symbol of evil. Chapter 17: Frame Contriving evidence to blame it on an innocent soul; falsifying a crime. The insignia represented is an innocent soul being imprisoned. Chapter 18: Optimum The greatest condition or degree; ultimate status. The insignia represented is the Celestial Dreamer. Lucid Dreams Lucid Dreams are the achievements in this game. They are indicated in four ranks; Master for the Platinum, Expert for Gold, Advanced for Silver, and Beginner for Bronze. Trivia *Some of the Magic Spells are based on the weapons from Ratchet and Clank; **The Wave/Void Spells are based on the traditional Blaster weapon. **The Cross Spell is based on the Buzz Blades weapon. **The Eagle Eye is based on the Alpha Disruptor weapon. **The Blast is based on the Fusion Grenade weapon. *As the game is set on Renaissance Europe, many characters/NPCs have European accents; **Marpei has an Austrian accent. **The Sandman has an Irish accent. **Jasper has a Hungarian accent. *There are also references to Renaissance projects, such as paintings, Leonardo Da Vinci and the flying machine, and various other artists/famous people. *The term ''"fin" ''in the ending is known to be "the end" in Spanish/French, a common trope in some European films. Category:Wii U Games Category:Action Adventure Games Category:Adventure Games Category:2015 Category:Puzzle Games Category:Nintendo Switch Games Category:Rated E10+ Games Category:Rated 7 Games Category:Rated PG Games Category:Rated A CERO Games Category:Third Person Games Category:Third Person Action Games